Simple electronic passports issued as of Friday, valid 10 years

The simple electronic passports which will be issued as of Friday for adults will be valid for a 10-year period, a release of the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) sent to AGERPRES informs.

The MAE brings to mind that, also on Friday, the amendments brought to the Law No.248/2005 regarding the regime of free movement of Romanian citizens abroad enter into force, the amendments initiated by the Interior Affairs Ministry and the MAE as an additional instrument in support in the area of passports for the Romanian citizens residing in the country and abroad. 

"These amendments aim at reducing agglomeration of the passport services around the country, but also that of the diplomatic missions and consular offices of Romania abroad, while increasing the efficiency in the process of issuing travel documents," the quoted source mentions.

The main elements of novelty introduced by these amendments relate to the validity of simple electronic passports, the situations in which the release of the simple temporary passport can be requested, as well as the new terms of processing the requests for the issuance of simple temporary passports in certain situations. 

Thus, citizens aged over 18, who file, as of 20 July, the request for obtaining the simple electronic passport will receive the travel document with a validity of 10 years. Until now, the validity term was five years. For the other age segments, the validity period remains unchanged, namely 3 years for people up to 12 years of age, and 5 years for those aged between 12 and 18.

The request for the issuance of travel documents filed before 20 July will be processed according to the legal provisions that were in force when the request was lodged.